


How Strange It Is To Be Anything At All

by oliviathecf



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Feelings, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sexual thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-05-21 12:21:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14915280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliviathecf/pseuds/oliviathecf
Summary: Sometimes they’re fighting, sometimes they’re fucking, sometimes they’re just four people who managed to exist at the same time, in the same place.





	1. John

**Author's Note:**

> Two fics in one day? This one is actually half done and was sitting in my drafts, and I was originally going to post it all as one chapter. But then I thought to split it up by character instead because I think it'll work better that way.
> 
> This fic will be four short drabbles centered around the thoughts and feelings of each human Lantern as they navigate polyamory. It's a study of how the four of them could work together for a future project of mine as well.
> 
> The rating might get upped on this, depending if I feel like writing a foursome at some point haha! 
> 
> Title is from "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.
> 
> Enjoy!

If anyone noticed before the rest of them, it had to be John. At least, that’s what John told himself because, if he hadn’t noticed, then it would truly be a mystery. How four men could be the lucky, unlucky few to experience very human heartbreak in the cold vastness of space instead of being rooted on Earth.

Heartbreak and hard decisions, they all end up alone at the end of the day. Tora leaves Guy, Soranik brands Kyle’s chest, Sinestro is still a villain and Carol finally gives up on Hal, and Katma is still dead at the end of the day. John could never let himself forget that, even as he took a break for once, feeling Mogo’s grass between his toes and let himself breathe because there was so much to do but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

They’re alone but they’re not _alone_ , not when the four of them have come together and broken apart, and John belatedly realized that he had kissed every single one of them. At the end of their hardest days, their coldest nights, they’ve been together in every combination besides all four of them. 

It’s hard to look in any direction but forward for the Corps but John allowed himself a moment to breathe and hope because, above all else, he was Human John Stewart, before Green Lantern Stewart or Corps Leader Stewart. He let himself think about Kyle’s sweet look of adoration, about Guy’s bright, honest smile, and of Hal’s casual way of always finding a reason to touch any one of them.

So, he let himself hope for one moment that their agreement to meet at the bar that night would go somewhere more than just the four of them having a beer together as they’ve always done. Instead, John let himself think about what it could be between them, at least for just a moment.

He thought about Kyle on his lap, grinding against him. He thought about Guy behind him, kissing his neck and pushing his erection against his ass. He thought about Hal on his knees, shooting up that blinding grin before taking him in his mouth. The four of them, together, images of his friends in pairs, but the thought of three of them without the other was the only one that felt wrong

John grit his teeth, adjusting himself in his pants. Maybe it had been too long because he couldn't help the images from flooding his brain.


	2. Kyle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle couldn't keep his mind-- or his sketchbook-- clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only other part of this fic that I have finished, but I'll bang out the other two chapters pretty quickly!

Behind John, somewhere hidden in Mogo’s trees, Kyle sat in the same grass with his sketchbook on his lap. He was working with just a pencil, just having planned on taking a walk and maybe sketching some of the interesting flowers or trees that grew on the surface. Instead, he was captured by John’s relaxed state, lit just by the setting sun that Mogo had settled by. 

Kyle had always thought that John was handsome, why else would he draw him often enough and why else would he have kissed him the other day? Kyle’s sketchbook was full of pictures of John, as well as pictures of Guy and Hal. These pictures were referenced and...well, unreferenced. The tips of his ears burned with shame at the thought of the pictures he had drawn in the sketchbook, tucked under his mattress like his pot back in high school. Or the magazines he had swiped, the drawings were similar to that. Muscular men in various positions, kissing and touching and _fucking_ , and Kyle felt guilty all over again. Not about liking men of course, but about drawing his friends in that way. It also felt a bit self centered getting off to his drawings but, after having kissed every single one of them without it going anywhere else, Kyle had started to feel pent up.

He suspected that he wasn’t the only one, considering how flirty Hal had gotten with the various people they had met on their mission to a planet. Hal had taken him to that planet for a peacekeeping mission, but they had spent most of their time in a bar together. Kyle nursed his drink, watching as Hal danced with some of the various people there. When Hal pressed a particularly animalistic kiss to one of the necks of a beautiful alien, Kyle had thought that he was going to go home with them, but he popped back up a few moments later to spend time with him instead. 

The sight had made him hard, just as thinking about it did and just as the sight of John’s back muscles working underneath his tight t-shirt in the light did, and just as the way Guy’s arm tightened around him would. Don’t get him wrong, Guy did it for him just as much as the other two did. 

His pencil tapped on the paper, leaving staccato grey marks, and he wondered how he ever got any work done around the three of them around.


	3. Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't that Guy was being negative, he just thought of himself as a realist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guy got the angst bomb for this fic, but he'll be okay. 
> 
> Sorry for the late update, I got done with my second move in two months so life's been happening a lot lately.

It wasn’t as if Guy never noticed just how attractive his fellow Earth Lanterns were. Of course he did, he had eyes and spent a lot of time with them. He noticed the small turn of John’s lips and the approval in his eyes when Guy made a joke, he saw when Kyle looked at him for a bit too long, and he felt the heavy weight of Hal’s arm around him.

Even as he’s fallen into bed with all of them at least once, he can’t help but force the thoughts out of his mind. He knew very well that all of this would be lost to him one day, that he’d find himself back on Earth while they were all happy. Kyle would find himself a nice girl at some art shop and he’d go to his wedding where he’d drink beers out of mason jars and try not to notice that Hal and Carol are dancing, and John would figure things out with Yrra. He’d switch to liquor and think about calling up Tora, but she and Bea are off somewhere being in love.

Stupid mason jars. And there’d probably be twine too, and they’d be in some barn, as Guy would drink himself stupid as to not remember the way Kyle looked on his knees, or the way Hal felt underneath him, or the way John felt inside of him. As he pretended these were just hookups, nothing more.

But then Hal walked into his bar and gave him a blinding smile, ordering just a water for now as they waited for Kyle and John to get there. Hal asked him about his day, Kyle and John would get there soon, where Kyle would show off the drawing he did of John standing in the grass and John would joke about Kyle being a voyeur. The kid would blush and they’d all laugh at him. 

The night would wear on and some combination of them would go home together, laugh and push until they landed in bed together. And he wouldn’t wake up alone for once, he’d wake up to John and Hal making breakfast because they usually woke up first, or Kyle sketching someone, having another bout of insomnia. Or he’d wake up first for once and start the coffee pot, maybe cook some fried eggs because he remembered best of all that Hal liked his over medium while Kyle and John both liked theirs over easy.

The sun would stream in through the windows and it would all be okay, at least for now. Maybe this all would be lost to him at some point but, for now Hal smiled at him and reached out to touch his arm, and John and Kyle would be in soon. Guy just had to live in the moment.


	4. Hal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hal realizes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is. The last chapter of this little character study I did. I generally always had a guideline of where this story was going to go while writing it, though it took a lot longer than I thought it would. Either way, I always knew I was going to end it with Hal, partially because I went into this understanding his character the best.
> 
> I didn't think I was going to leave the ending open, but I realized that the story of the four of them wasn't ever going to wrap up neatly, and certainly not with some big confession. It's going to take them a lot of work, especially in the canon universe, and there's always going to be a way that they won't make it work.
> 
> So I just didn't give myself that opportunity. Happy but ambiguous instead.
> 
> Thanks for reading this story as I worked through it, I really hope you enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed writing it!

If anyone noticed last, it had to have been Hal. Not that he was unobservant or anything like that, it’s just that he never found it strange or different to hook-up with teammates. He had done it before, it was nothing new to do it with his fellow Lanterns. They were attractive, they knew what the others had to go through, it just felt obvious to him.

It took him a little while to think that it was different from any old hook-up. That he hadn’t felt this way about anyone in a very long time and that it hadn’t ever ended in anything but heartbreak.

Hal sat at the bar, watching Guy wipe down the counters, and he thought about all the times they had fucked. All the times they had fought, with words and with fists. And then he thought about all the times they had sat together and shared a beer, the way Guy would give him a smirk when they fought on each other’s side, taking down bad guys.

He thought about John making them all coffee when they weren’t allowed to sleep. The way he smiled when he explained the roast or which method created the best flavor. The appreciative look in his eyes whenever someone brought him back a bag of fancy coffee from Earth, which they all always did no matter how expensive it was. Hal never blinked about buying a twenty dollar bag of coffee, even if he didn’t have much, because it was always worth it to see John look happy.

And Kyle was happy to have any little comfort of Earth. The way his eyes shut when he opened a new box of pencils and smelled them, the way he looked when he was concentrating on breaking in a new sketchbook.

Hal thought about them, because it was hard not to. When Guy brought his favorite rum from Earth and gave him a drink on the house, when John had picked up a Coast City newspaper for him, when Kyle brought him a hand written letter from his family back on Earth.

He realized that it wasn’t a labor of friendship or something nice that his friends with benefits did for each other. Not from the way the happiness on their faces made him feel. Not from the way his heart skipped a beat when Guy looked over his shoulder and smiled broadly, waving at the other two as they walked in the door. 

It wasn’t the independent moments that made him realize he was in love with Guy, John, and Kyle. It was the culmination of every single one of them, building up to this one time as they were all together in Warriors.

And, somehow, Hal knew they felt the same way.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, feel free to either leave some love (or hate) either here or on my tumblr:
> 
>  
> 
> [ Fic Blog ](http://fanfictionolivia.tumblr.com/)


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